A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Freischütz, Der

FREISCHÜTZ,^[1] DER. Romantic opera in 3 acts, words by Kind, music by Weber (his 8th opera); completed, as 'Die Jägersbraut,' May 13, 1820. Produced at Berlin June 18, 1821; at Paris as 'Robin des Bois,' with new libretto by Castile Blaze and Sauvage, and many changes,^[2] at Odéon, Dec. 7, 1824, but with accurate translation by Pacini, and recitatives by Berlioz, at Académie royale, June 7, 1841, as 'Le Franc Archer.' In London, as 'Der Freischütz, or the seventh bullet,' by Hawes, at English Opera-house, with many ballads inserted, July 22, [App. p.640 "July 23"] 1824; in Italian as 'Il Franco arciero,' at Covent Garden, March 16, 1850 (recitatives by Costa, not by Berlioz) ; in German, at King's Theatre, May 9, 1832. [App. p.640 "given at Astley's Theater, with a new libretto by Oxenford, April 2, 1866."]

1. Frei-schütz, say the dictionaries, = free-marksman, one who shoots with charmed bullets. There is no equivalent English term.
2. 'Assassiné' is Berlioz's word for this outrageous proceeding (no singularity in France, nor indeed in London, half a century ago), by which he states that Castile Blaze made more than 100,000 francs (Mémoires de Berlioz, 57, 61). There were Divertissements made up of the Dance music in Preciosa and Oberon, and of the Invitation to the Waltz scored by Berlioz for the purpose.